Chapter Text
The matrix was cold. It was always startling to Megatronus, to feel nothing from the relic. Over the years Megatronus would think he would feel something, that this time he would understand but it never happened. It just sat, cold like it had for the last 1 million years. It made him question if he was even carrying the real Matrix. If he was truly one of the greats, a True Prime. Those thoughts he kept quiet, looking at them in the dark of space, where only Soundwave could hear.
He had found the matrix, Megatronus thought that it was meant to be, Primus chosen. He had felt Primus that day. The warmth of the matrix filling him completely, all doubt erased from his mind. He knew what he had to do, it was all so clear. Perhaps those were all a fools thoughts brought on by delusions of grandeur. The first battle he lost his body, the connection wavered. The more battles, the more he lost of himself, the colder the bobble would sit. Now, Megatronus felt not even a light pulse to prove it even awoke. It might as well be some fancy rock he carried around. Megatronus wondered if he had done something wrong. Looking at Earth, Megatronus felt his age and worries even more.
The Autobots were down there, hiding. Megatronus knew they were there, he had chased and herded them here for a long five million years. The planet was not significant, none of the planets ever were, but this one was going to be the last.
The Autobots would be stopped here, or Megatronus would give up. The war had gone on long enough, and he was tired of it.
“Soundwave,” Megatronus called, “Prepare the crew for entry.” the war Lord didn't even look to see if his third was there. He could feel him, Em field smashing against his with barely restrained anger.
“Megatronus: Tell crew of possible surrender?” Even in anger Soundwave sounded calm. He was a shadow in the doorway to the observatory. His bright red visor the only thing giving away his shape, a courtesy given to Megatronus only. Soundwave looked every inch the spymaster war had made him.
“We are not going to surrender Soundwave.” Megatronus tried to placate.
“Then give up. Megatronus: confused; plan muddled. Cause perhaps forgotten?” Soundwave challenged.
“I never forgot the cause Soundwave. You think all this fighting as been for the cause? You think the monsters who use my title to slaughter were part of the cause?” Megatronus yelled, “This devolved into a grudge match a long time ago Soundwave. To fight now and say it's for something, you'd be deluding yourself.”
“Megatronus: Taking cowards way out.”
“No Soundwave, I'm saving this planet and ending a war. I would be a coward to not admit a lost battle when I see one. Prepare the crew for entry.”
Soundwave accepted, bowing his head slightly in acknowledgement, but his Em field was gone. Megatronus was doing the right thing. He at least was sure of that… he hoped.
*
Meanwhile on Earth, the peace and quiet was interrupted by the twin revs of engines. Streaks of bright yellow and red flew down the highway, windows open and radios on blast.
‘I, I'm driving black on black, just got my license back, I got this feeling in my veins this train is coming off the track’
“Turn that shit off it sucks!” Sideswipe griped.
“Shut up, you can't even hear it!” Sunstreaker revved his engine, dogging ahead in their impromptu race.
“You're blasting it, the whole country side can hear it!” Sideswipe accelerated, passing too close in retaliation.
“Fine! You play something!”
‘My girlfriend's a dick magnet. My girlfriend's gotta have it. She's hot, can't sto-’
“How is this any better?”
“yours went like banup banup naaa and mine goes like denow nownownow. They're completely different sounds.”
“The lyrics in yours suck!”
“You suck!” Sideswipe bumped into his brother, generously transferring some paint.
Sunstreaker screamed slamming on his breaks.
Sideswipe catapulted forward, passing his twin completely. He skidded to a stop, turning to look at Sunstreaker. “Really Sunny?”
“You and me, let’s go.” Sunstreaker growled.
“Right now? Here?” Sideswipe questioned. Sunstreaker was already half transformed before the words left his mouth. His yellow counterpart stalking towards him, a distinct red scuff on his arm.
Sideswipe threw himself into reverse, just missing a kick aimed at his bumper. “Woah! Sunny calm down!”
“I am calm!” He screamed, lunging for his brother.
Sideswipe zipped left, transforming with a roll. He wasn't on his feet more than a second before a fist came flying at his face. “Oh! You're getting it now!” Sideswipe retaliated, grabbing Sunstreaker around his middle and wrestling his brother to the ground. He took a punch to the side of his helm; his dente biting into his glossa. “Ow! That hurt you aft head!”
“Yeah? Well you scuffed my paint!” Sunstreaker spit. He was still struggling, trying to throw Sideswipe off of him so he could get a couple more blows in.
“It's always about your paint with you.”
“One of us has to look good.”
Sideswipe gasped in mock insult. With an evil grin Sideswipe dug into the ground, grabbing a handful dirt. He held it over Sunstreaker, teasingly dropping chunks onto his chest plate.
Sunstreaker narrowed his optics, glaring unholy anger at his twin, “Sideswipe,” He said levelly, “If you do that, you better sleep with one optic open for the rest of your life.”
Sideswipe trickled more dirt out of his closed servo, “I'm so scared.”
“Sideswipe!” Sunstreaker shouted one more time before devolving into just screaming at his twin. His servos flailing wildly to get that dirt away from his finish.
The two were interrupted by frantic honking. Sideswipe looked away, giving Sunstreaker just enough time to escape from underneath him. Sideswipe had the presence of mind to throw his handful of dirt at the retreating Sunstreaker before transforming back into his altmode.
The dirt went wide, missing the vane speedster by a mile. Sunstreaker was slower to change, spotting who had interrupted them. “Hey Hot rod! You're looking good, did you do something to your paint?”
The muscle car had skidded to a stop; angled in such a way that made the sun glint off of their body enticingly. “I might have given myself a good polish and added a few decals.” Hot Rod said slyly, beaming under the attention. A compliment was always a good way to distract the young bot.
Sunstreaker whistled, strolling up to his fellow autobot, “Me likey. What polish? That's a really nice high gloss.”
“Can you two talk about finishes later? I think Hot Rod had something to say.” Sideswipe cut in, driving in between them.
“Oh right! Decepticons were spotted in the system and Boss bot says to double down on the cognito.” Hot Rod said with cheer.
At the order Sunstreaker finally changed back into his alt mode, albeit with a bit of a sulk. It was harder to hide the paint transfer and muck in this mode. “I don't know why we even bother to hide when they keep finding us.” Sunstreaker griped, “It would be easier if we just wiped them out already.”
“They're nothing but filthy cons. We’d be better off without them.” Sideswipe added to the sentiment.
Hot Rod was oddly hesitant. He bounced on his tires, weakly agreeing. “Anyways,” Hot Rod said changing the subject, “It sucks that we have to lay low. I was finally ready for some action and we're all just waiting around.”
“Hopefully, we don't have to wait long.” Sunstreaker said.
“Hopefully.” Sideswipe added.
“You know…” Hot Rod started, “We don't have to wait around.” He said with an air of mischief.
“Hot Rod.” Sunstreaker warned.
“I'm not I'm not! It was just an idea, not like I could just blast off and fight them. Not unless I stole Magnus’ ship.” Hot Rod said with a chuckle.
“Hehe yeah, that would be ridiculous. How would you even do that?” Sideswipe laughed, “Just go up to Magnus and be like ‘look over there a crime!’ and then steal his ship?”
“Oh please! He wouldn't even need to do that! Magnus goes stupid around Roddy. All he'd need to do was flash some tail lights, ask for the ship and it'd be his.” Sunstreaker started driving off, his twin tailing him for a moment before pulling up beside him.
Hot Rod drove after them, stuck behind their frames. :You really think he would give me his ship if I did that?: he commed over their collective noise.
:What? No way in pit! He likes rules too much.: Sideswipe said flippantly.
:Why are we even talking about this in the first place?: Sunstreaker complained, :It's not like it will happen:
:Yeah you're right. Sideswipe should probably get on the right side of the road.: Hot Rod remarked.
:No way! I live for danger!: To punctuate his point Sideswipe swung himself backwards, driving in the reverse. Dread filtered into Sunstreaker from Sideswipe. Confused, he sent a poke over their bond. Only one word made it back.
It halted Sunstreaker instantly, Hot Rod didn't notice. He continued to drive, only checking to see where the twins where when he felt it grow too quiet. He extended his sensor net, brushing against their frames. They were turned away from him, still. Hot Rod stopped, turning around and that's when he saw it.
The purple haul of the Decepticon war ship was staring them down from behind the clouds of Earth's pale blue sky. Like an evil eye it loomed over them in all it's horrifying glory. The Nemesis was here.
:Holy ship!: Hot Rod exclaimed.
:I thought they were just in the system!: Sunstreaker yelled, staring at the war ship. He watched as drop ships started deploying from its underside, falling to the countryside. Some too close for Sunstreaker's comfort
:Apparently not! Look, they're already touching down, we have to get out of here!: Sideswipe's wheels spun in place for a moment before he took off, tearing away from the encroaching Decepticon threat.
Sunstreaker was by his side and Hot Rod… had tore off through a field towards the closest drop ship.
:Dammit Hot Rod!: Sunstreaker yelled sharply. His tires squealed as he turned to chase after the quickly disappearing muscle car. :What do you even think you're doing! Stop! Hot Rod!: Sunstreaker desperately called out, his comms ignored as Hot Rod continued headlong into danger. :Sides, He’s not answering!:
:He’s going to get himself killed! We have to call the arc, he’s not going to turn around.: Sideswipe said. Sideswipe was slower to turn around, pushing to actually catch up. His spark pounded as he watched bigger and bigger drop ships release. Sideswipe felt nothing but chaos inside of his body. He could feel his battle coding kick in as Rodimus ate up the miles towards danger. With a quick prayer, he sent the word out and chased that flame red into combat.
*
Skywarp didn’t like small places; never had and never did. Starscream had tried to explain that all seekers didn’t like enclosed spaces but Skywarp didn’t listen. Skywarp was sure he was affected more acutely. He always needed the sky, always needed a visual of the world outside a room. Any chance he could get, he would stare out a window. It was why his eyes were glued to the one porthole in the stupid dumb, tiny shuttle they were riding down to Earth in. “Why are we even using a shuttle when we can fly?” Skywarp pointed out.
“Shut up Skywarp.” Starscream was leaning against the wall, refusing to sit. His arms were crossed over his cockpit, his face drawn back in a bored sneer.
“We could probably fly faster than this brick too, why are we taking this ship down?”
“Will you shut up Warp? I’m trying to think.” Sure enough the great trine leader was. So deep in thought that they circled back to the start no less than three times. His sneer only grew deeper as the answer he was looking for evaded him.
“I mean it’s just stupid Star. We’re seekers!”
“Let it go Warp, it’s just how things are.” Thundercracker interrupted. They were all crammed together. Thundercracker was pushed up into a corner, Skywarp’s wingtips threatening to take out one of his optics. The seeker jerking away everytime his wingmate gesticulated his point.
“But it’s stupid!” Skywarp gestured.
“Watch!” Thundercraker yelled, “Where your wings are, you almost got my optic.” He finished gently.
“Sorry TC.” Skyward said sheepishly. Skywarp reluctantly settled down. The turbulence was getting worse as they broke through the atmosphere. He bounced in his seat, anxiously waiting. When the proximity alarms went off, they all braced themselves.
Starscream did the bare minimum, merely wedging his frame in such a way that it would be hard to dislodge him. With a heavy thud, they landed and the air commander kicked open the shuttle door.
Starscream's sneer morphed into a cruel smile upon their arrival, “Oh hello.” It was with a sadistic glee he pinned down Hot Rod with his gaze.
The speedster practically had his nasal ridge pressed to the door. The pod almost crushing him on initial contact. It was just Hot Rod's cosmically bad luck that landed him in front of Starscream's nullrays. Finding his voice Hot Rod said a sheepish ‘hello’ before turning as fast as he could dodging the first round of laser fire.
The ground exploded at his feet. The shots corralled and cornered Hot Rod. He ran and danced for the air commander, knowing his other option was to be shot where he stood.
The command trine mocked him, Skywarp openly laughing at his pathetic escape attempt. “See if you can ding his spoiler.” Skywarp egged on.
His commander happily changed his aim, catching the tip of the sensitive appendage. Hot Rod staggered, feeling the numbness travel through his body. It felt like a thousand needles pushing into his body. There was no cover in the open field, he was so stupid to think he could fight decepticons alone. Hot Rod transformed, the motion stalling him for a moment, pain lanced through his shoulder as the null rays particles bit into his plating. The shot left him tumbling as he transformed, barely landing square on his tires. He zig zagged, not even slowing down to corner, hoping that the twins would save him.
“Commander, terror twins up ahead.” Thundercracker broke their concentration on Hot Rod. The two seekers snapped their helm’s to the spot Thundercracker had indicated. Their shapes were unmistakable against the boring backdrop of fields. Two fast moving objects were coming towards the trine in their signature colours.
“You and Skywarp can handle them. I'll take care of Orion Pax's little darling. Move out!” Starscream shouted, quickly transforming to give chase.
Skywarp and Thundercracker shared a look. A tired eye roll met a manic smile as they both transformed. They flew low, taunting the twins. Thundercracker even being as bold as to scrape his underside against Sunstreaker's roof.
The twins fired back, their bullets falling just short of hitting. Sunstreaker growling over comms. The two turned, giving chase to the Jets.
Thundercracker did a loop, circling behind Sunstreaker. He steadied his guns, bringing them center and fired. Thundercracker knew they would miss a second after he pulled the trigger. He cursed himself and changed his firing angle quickly.
Sunstreaker Swerved, dodging the first volley easily. :He's on me!:
:Got it! Kite him over: Sideswipe retreated from chasing Skywarp. Sideswipe turned, aiming for his twin. They met up, crossing paths before splitting apart again. Thundercracker stuck on Sunstreaker, shooting another volley of bullets.
The loss of his opponent didn't escape Skywarp. He only had enough time to comm a quick warning before Sideswipe shot at Thundercracker. The jet rolled, avoiding most of the spray, only receiving a few dings in his wings. :Skywarp, set up a cross fire.:
:You got it TC.: the teleporter flitted away, transforming to take out his sniper rifle. Skywarp hovered in the air, stabilizing as much as he could against the wind. He tracked Sideswipe, following the twin with his cross hair before flicking it slightly in front of the Lamborghini.
Sideswipe swerved as the shot landed, grazing his tire. Another shot was dangerously close to his fender and Sideswipe was forced to divert his attention. He scanned the area, finding Skywarp high above them. :Skywarp is sniping me. He's on our 7:
Without even an affirmative, when they crossed, Sideswipe went after Skywarp.
Thundercracker switched targets, gunning after Sideswipe, using a sonic boom to tear up his path. He kept Sideswipe from getting to the teleporter who was still peppering shots down from his aerial perch.
Sunstreaker took the flank as the two fliers became occupied with his brother. He quieted his engine, moving almost at a crawl as he snuck up on Skywarp. When he was close enough he unloaded. Sunstreaker got the first couple of shots off, piercing the thinner armor around Skywarp’s wings. Once the bullets hit, Skywarp was gone.
Skywarp teleported before he even registered the pain completely. One minute he was scoped up on Sideswipe and the next he was across the field looking at Thundercrackers Jet streams with holes in his back. Skywarp blinked, training his optics on Sideswipe again before noticing Sunstreaker circling the edges of the fight, looking for where his next bullet would hit. Skywarp smirked, a plan beginning to form. :TC. I have an idea.:
:Don’t! Just shoot Sideswipe and let me do the thinking: Thundercracker did another roll, avoiding some clever shooting from Sideswipe.
Skywarp ignored him and landed a shot on Sunstreaker’s spoiler. “Hey! Look up stupid!” Like a laser, Sunstreaker zeroed in, speeding towards him with intent.
:WHAT ARE YOU DOING?: Thundercracker roared over comms.
:Don’t worry I got this TC, Just keep shooting at Sideswipe: Skywarp did something he rarely ever did and focused on Sunstreaker’s movements. His glossa slipped out of his mouth as he watched. Swerve, right… left…. Speed up, slow down… swerve. As Sunstreaker was turning right Skywarp striked. The shot landed and Sunstreaker’s left tire exploded. The Lamborghini pulled sharply left and into Skywarp's next shot. The bullet tore through plating easily, going clean through Sunstreaker's door and out the other side. Sunstreaker was rocked off his tires, doing a full roll before landing with a thud on his roof.
Skywarp grinned viciously. With a soft vop he was in front of the totalled twin. Skywarp aimed his rifle, muzzle just barely touching Sunstreaker's bumper. “Transform you cowardly autobot and face your better.”
Sunstreaker complied, rolling into a crouch, growling his engine. The seeker replied in turn, cycling his turbines louder than the v8, drowning Sunstreaker out. Energon was lazily dripping out of the bullet wounds in Sunstreaker's doors. The lamborghini looked pissed, his eyes were hard as he cradled his wounded arms close to his torso.
“If I knew it was going to be this easy to shoot you, I would have done it with my eyes closed. I'll tell Sideswipe you said hi from the well.” Skywarp taunted.
“Don't you mean I'll tell Thundercracker hi?” Sunstreaker smirked.
“What? No. I have a gun to your helm, why would I- wait… where's your twin?”
The words barely left his mouth before bumper connected with vent. The seeker went flying as Sideswipe transformed, blaster at the ready. “Right here fly boy!”
“Took you long enough. I was getting tired of hearing him.” Sideswipe reached for Sunstreaker, pulling his grumpy other half back onto his feet.
Sunstreaker wobbled for a moment, putting his hand out for balance before stalking towards Skywarp.
Skywarp was picking himself out of the dirt, shaking his helm. When the world stopped spinning Skywarp was pushed back down by Sunstreaker. His intake was full of grass as he struggled to wiggle out from underneath the front liner.
“I had to get Thunders off my backside first. We're lucky he's such a shit shot.”Sideswipe remarked.
“Who?” Sunstreaker asked, “Thundercracker or skywarp?”
The twins shared a laugh as Thundercracker landed. There was no elegance in the way Thundercracker fumbling to stay on his feet. In his servo he clenched a nullray, aiming it at Sideswipe. “Let him go!”
Sunstreaker grabbed ahold of an elevator, pulling it back farther than the hinges would allow. Sideswipe watched as Thundercracker's hand wavered as he listened to Skywarp whine.
“Stop it! He's unarmed, you don't need to do this!” Thundercracker pleaded.
Sunstreaker said nothing, simply working the elevator back and forth until it snapped off its hinges.
Skywarp openly screamed, turning his helm into the dirt to try and muffle his pain. His wings felt as if the edges had been lit on fire then dug into with sharp nails. Skywarp took quick shallow breaths, fighting through the fog of pain that had taken over his mind. Thundercracker gasped as he watched Sunstreaker throw the part away callously. Skywarp began to whimper as Sunstreaker’s servo’s travelled over to the otherside, gripping the matching elevator. “No no no no, please stop. Please.”
Thundercracker swallowed thickly. His whole frame was shaking, he felt as if his energon had frozen in his lines as he watched mech blood slowly dribble out of his brother’s wounds. He couldn’t look away as Sunstreaker started snapping the other side.
“Don’t want the other side to match?” Sideswipes voice tore Thundercracker away from the horror show. “Call off your boss.”
“H-he won’t come.” Thundercracker stuttered.
“You sure about that? Maybe you should give it a try. Sunstreaker’s going to rip your brother’s wings apart and he’s not going to stop until Starscream shows up and Hot Rod is left alive.”
:Sides, I don’t want to cripple him: Sunstreaker sent quickly over comms.
:Relax, you won’t have to: Sideswipe assured, :Thundercracker can’t handle the sight of energon. Snap the other elevator off and he’ll call his boss for sure.:
When Thundercracker didn’t respond fast enough Sideswipe gave the order, “Snap the other one off Sunny.”
“With pleasure.” Sunstreaker said with more enjoyment than he felt. The hinge gave easy, snapping loudly. It drew Thundercracker’s attention instantly as he watched Skywarp howl.
Skywarp’s EM field flicked out wildly, barely catching the edges of Thundercracker’s. Pain, Hurt, Panic filtered into Thundercracker as he felt Skywap’s feelings against his frame. He tried to send back Calm, Serenity, Courage but it all felt watery coming from him. “I’ll call him. Just, please, don’t hurt him anymore.”
“That’s a good bot.” Sideswipe nodded his head and Sunstreaker let go of the aileron he was starting to twist.
:Commander, there’s a bit of an issue:
Meanwhile...
The heat of a missile was searing Hot rod’s plating when the explosion tore the ground out from under him. He managed to stay upright for a solid two seconds, which if you asked the tumbling muscle car, didn’t really mean jack shit when Starscream was still shooting at him. It was pure panic and fear that was keeping Hot Rod running, correcting his spin to land on his tires and keep going. All the hard training from Ironhide moving his frame as his mind raced to figure out how to escape the crazed flight commander.
He swerved around a new set of craters that appeared in front of him, desperately digging his mind for some fragment of an idea; but he had none. Hot Rod had run into danger again without thinking. Prowl was going to tear him apart for this if Orion didn’t beat him to it. But he wasn’t going to call the Ark. He couldn’t let them know that he’d been an idiot. Chances were they knew anyways, but still! Hot Rod could handle this. Another missile landed, chucking a rock into his side so hard, he was sure his internals shifted completely left.
Hot Rod started scrolling through his contacts.
He just needed one person and an idea on how to get himself out of this mess. He started at the a’s quickly eliminating all his options, same with the b’s,when he was nearing the bottom of the c’s. A pot hole jolted his frame and he clicked confirm by accident on a random name. Hot Rod screamed.
“You should scream little autobot! Soon, you will tire and it will only be a matter of time before your head is sent back to your precious leader!” Starscream was completely oblivious to the real reason behind the scream. Instead believing the youngster had given into his fear of having the great deception air commander hunting him down.
The call connected and a voice Hot Rod was wholly unfamiliar with started talking, :Cosmos here. What do you need?:
:Oh Scrap! wrong number!: Explosions rang out in the background getting picked up by his communicator. Hot Rod swerved again. A shard of rock nicked his tire. He wobbled for a second, quickly recovering. If the situation wasn’t desperate before, it was now. He was going to be trying run on a flat if he couldn’t get out.
:What’s happening down there?: Cosmos asked.
:Nothing! I mean nothing. I may just be trying to run away from Starscream. Not a big deal, don’t need to call Orion about it:
:Oh! Um… you sure? It kind of sounds like you need some help:
:Well…: a missile exploded close behind and Starscream's manic cackles were drawing closer, :I might need some help yeah:
:Well I'm in orbit-:
:-Fantastic-:
:But I can get you bounced out of there, you just need to stand still for thirty seconds:
:How the hell am I supposed to do that?:
:I don't know. Get him to start talking or something. He's a seeker, they love to talk:
The call ended and Hot Rod was left alone. Get Starscream to talk, right, he could do that. Not like he had any better ideas. ‘Here goes nothing’ Hot Rod thought quickly. The next missile, he rolled with the explosion and crashed. The speedster transformed and stared at the Air Commander that was silently approaching him.
Starscream had opted to transform as well, going back to his root mode to slowly stalk over to his downed prey. Starscream was struggling not to pant as his plating pinged and steamed in the air. The youngster had given him quite the chase; over a minute of high speed pursuit but nothing could escape a seeker. Starscream drew his nullray with fennece, adding a bit of flourish as he twirled the gun on the end of one of his servos. “That was quite the chase Autobot, but I'm afraid it ends here. Be honoured, you get to die by a legend.”
Hot Rod stared down the barrel of the gun. He could feel his circuits buzzing as the counter was crunching down. Twenty seconds, he had to stall. “Don't I get to say my final words?”
Starscream laughed, “Those are for worthy opponents. You,” he said with emphasis, “were an inconvenience; an annoying pest I thought would be fun to dispose of and send back to your leader since he cares so much about you. You Hot Rod of Nyon, get no poetic end. You'll die on a dirt ball alone.”
“Not worthy?” Hot Rod sputtered indignantly, “You bothered to learn my designation! Doesn't that mean something?” God he hoped the garbage out of his mouth would work. He needed just a couple more seconds.
“Your name is just another to add to my count. Shut up and die Autobot!” The blaster started to charge up. Hot Rod cringed, he was so close too, five more seconds. He hoped the death would be instantaneous. Hot Rod screwed his eyes shut and looked away, hearing as the blaster cycle to full power.
“What is it Thundercracker?” Starscream's unpleasant voice cut through Hot Rod's thoughts. He opened his eyes and saw the great air commander talking on his comm, turned away from Hot Rod. It must have been an unconscious habit. He'd seen Bee do something similar everytime he was in a call, touching the side of his helm as if the device was external. Hot Rod smiled as the counter ticked down to one.
Starscream turned back to his prey just in time to catch him teleporting away with a cheeky wave. Starscream screeched, shooting the ground where the speedster sat. He was so close!
:Commander?: Thundercracker's worried voice sounded and Starscream was pulled back to reality.
:I'm returning. The little welp got away.: In one last fit of rage he shot the ground and transformed, flying with speed. Starscream was at the landing sight in two minutes, he touched down a few feet from Thundercracker.
His second came up to his side, “I'm sorry Star, they were going after his wings.”
Starscream made his way to Skywarp, looking at the downed teleporter. “Report.”
Skywarp was pathetically nursing his injured wings, trying to ease the pain by stroking the wing tips. “Twins showed up and we shot at them, they shot at us then that stupid red one got the jump on me.”
“How?” Starscream pressed.
That made skywarp freeze. He stopped self soothing, a brief flicker of fear in his field. “I dropped out of the sky to get the finishing blow.”
Starscream snorted, “How Pathetic of you. What's the damage?”
“He ripped off my elevators and stressed an aileron. I think he bent that one for fun.”
“Sparkling. Get up Skywarp you’re a seeker, we do not wallow in our pain. Can you fly?”
Skywarp shook his head no. Starscream cleared his throat and Skywarp straightened up, “No Commander.”
“Thundercracker, comm the nemesis. Tell them Skywarp needs to be beamed up.”
Thundercracker nodded. The whole extraction took less than a minute, skywarp disappearing to the ship in a beam of light.
“Did you learn anything?” Starscream turned his attention to Thundercracker.
“Their teleporter seems to be damaged in someway. The twins lingered longer than it takes for the bounce to connect. I suspect a delay was added.” Thundercracker relayed.
“I suspected as much. The Autobot Protege only bounced after about 40 seconds. Relay this to Soundwave, the Autobots have a severe delay in their teleportation system, estimated 40 second delay before the bounce connects.”
“Soundwave is asking how this information and the loss of Skywarp will affect our mission parameters.”
“Mission parameters” Starscream mocked, “He's so up his own aft. The Plan doesn't change. We can continue with one less. In fact the job will be easier now that Skywarp is out of the picture.”
“He says to carry on then.” Thundercracker finished.
“Of course he does. Fragging drone.”
“That's not very nice Star.” Thundercracker chided.
“Well I'm not very nice; let's go.” The pair took off, only their chemtrails bearing any hint of where they were going.
*
Hot Rod knew his escape was too good to be true. Out of the frying pan into the oven as the humans say. Cosmos, who ever he was, had teleported him at the feet of high command, the fragger.
Prowl's optics drilled into him, the enforcer was silent, seething as Ironhide took up the questioning. Blaster was at his comms station, pretending not to listen. It was only the four of them on the bridge. In that regard Hot Rod had gotten lucky.
“You mind explaining why Sideswipe commed us in a panic saying you were going off to fight cons?”
Hot Rod hadn't even gotten up from his seat on the floor before Ironhide came bearing down on him. He was still reeling from the fight, his frame trembling as his combat protocols slowly went dormant. He was a little stupefied and the disapproving face plates of his combat teacher was compounding the fact. “I uh.. was…” Gosh, what was he doing? “Getting shot… at? So he called the arc...”
“Go on.” Ironhide prodded.
“For backup.” Hot Rod finished. After answering the question Hot Rod had a strong feeling that wasn't what Ironhide wanted to hear. “I didn't answer your question.”
“No you didn't. You want to try that again? Why in the name of Sam hill where you engaging the enemy when you were expressly told not to!” Ironhide bellowed.
Hot Rod cringed, he looked to the floor for answers before weakly answering, “I wanted to help…”
“How Hot Rod? By storming in, guns ablaze and you take them all out? Every decepticon left in this stupid war is a seasoned killer, do you know what that means? It means they will be faster than you, bigger than you and damn ready to tear you apart. You can't just rush in Hot Rod! I don't know how many times I've had this talk with you but it's too many! One day your luck's going to run out and you're going to die out there.”
“But it worked out fine, so what's the worry?” Hot Rod protested.
“Get it through your thick head! It's not going to work out every time! Think outside yourself for once Hot Rod, what about the twins? You left them behind. I expect more from you Hot Rod.” Ironhide finished.
Hot Rod stood up defiantly. He was inches away from Ironhide's face, “You just want me to be Orion.”
“That’s not-” Ironhide was cut off as the twins bounced in. They we're leaning heavily against each other, Sideswipe trying hard not to grip too tightly onto Sunstreaker's clearly injured arms. Hot Rod had used the distraction to smoothly move past his mentor, the older mech wheeling around to point a finger at the retreating speedster, “Hot Rod, I’m not done talking to you!”
Hot Rod continued marching forward, offering up his shoulder to Sunstreaker. The lamborghini gratefully leaned his weight against the muscle car. The three of them amble off, ignoring Ironhide's voice as he called out after them.
“I believe you are.” Prowl said politely, his voice only barely audible over Ironhide's. The enforcer watched the three of them slowly escape the bridge, his battle computer calculating before turning to Ironhide, “Ironhide, you need to be harsher on Hot Rod in the future.”
“You try disciplining him and telling me how well that works out for you.” Ironhide grumbled.
“Noted.” Prowl said quickly, walking swiftly to Blaster’s console, “But I’m afraid we have bigger things to worry about. The Decepticons found us, as I predicted.”
“Let’s not exaggerate, they found the planet we’re on. They don’t exactly know where we are.” Ironhide corrected.
“But they will eventually.” Prowl countered, ‘We need a plan of attack.”
“Let us not be so hasty to attack Prowl. It is as Ironhide said, they still have not discovered the location of our base.” From the doorway, Orion Pax stood as if summoned. The former cop filled the entrance for a second, casting his shadow over the bridge before walking over to the trio.
Ironhide smiled at his longtime friend, Orion returned it quickly, his eyes wrinkling at the corners before turning his attention to the footage streaming from Cosmos.
The little saucer was hovering over the hudson river, on the horizon, vague shapes were starting to form. Blaster bit his lips, worrrying the protometal between his dente, he hoped it wasn’t what he thought it was. Ironhide was squinting at the screen, finger tapping on the display, “What do you recon’ that is?”
Prowl moved in and examined the image as well, a tight from on his face. “Get in touch with our ground team. I want to know what’s happening down there.”
“On it sir.” Blater’s fingers whizzed on the keyboard, connecting a line to Bumblebee and his team.
The line buzzed for a second before Bumblebee’s clear voice filled the bridge, “Bumblebee here!”
Ironhide muscled Prowl out of the way of the console, taking control of the call, “Bee, has there been any movement on your end?”
Bee made a confused sound, “Why? Should there be? I thought all the drop ships landed in Ohio.”
“They did,” Ironhide reminded, “The seekers are on the move, thought perhaps you might have spotted others heading your way.”
“Hold on, let me ask Mirage.” Without another word Bumblebee disconnected.
“Well that was useless.” Prowl remarked, “We have no idea where they’re heading. They could be going straight for a human settlement and we’d have no idea.Orion Pax, we need to start scrambling troops.”
“That is not a certainty Prowl. During our last fight, we did manage to strand their ship in open space for quite some time. They could be scouting for fuel to rejuvenate their forces.” Orion pointed out.
“That’s working under the assumption that The Nemesis had no way of producing its own fuel.” Prowl pointed out.
“The explosion from the engines could have taken out that equipment as well. I’m sticking with Orion’s judgement; we wait and see, no need to start shooting yet Tex.” Ironhide said.
The shapes solidified in the distance. Buildings began cropping up clearly and Blaster did his very best not to panic. He watched as Lady Liberty’s silhouette became clearer as the jets started making their way through the harbour. “Um sirs?” Blaster said quietly.
His voice was ignored as the debate continued, “Though, there may be some merit in Prowl’s suggestion. I do not want to put the inhabitants of this planet at risk by letting Megatronus destroy this planet to find us.” Orion Pax said quickly, “Let us not work with information we cannot guarantee is accurate.”
“Then what do you suggest Orion.” Prowl asked.
“We ready the troops and wait. If I am correct, as I fear I am, we may have to start our war again.” Orion said grimly.
“Sirs?” Blaster tried again slightly louder. Spark in his intake He watched the seekers touch down in the middle of time square.
“Well that’s just swell, what are the standing orders we give?” Ironhide inquired.
“For now, all troops and ground teams are on standby, anyone out on the field is to maintain disguise, engaging the decepticons is a last resort.” Orion Pax finished.
The seekers stood as two monoliths, nullray and blasters humming with charge. “What a miserable looking species. It would almost be a favor to kill them." Starscream smirked and with a mighty crack he fired the first shot. Thundercracker followed suit, igniting the air with plasma as they tore into buildings and pathways with no discernible reason.
‘Sirs! If you could just take a look at the feed for a moment!” Blaster yelled.
The console lit up, every emergency line available flashing with urgent comms. Command all turned and stared in awe. It seemed like every corner of New York had a decepticon lurking. Autobots hiding in the city began reporting in, the decepticons were destroying the bridges out of Manhattan. Roads and were being torn up, trapping people fleeing by car with impassable terrain. It was a complete take over, all done in a matter of minutes.
“I think waiting is no longer an option sir.” Blaster spoke quietly, “They just took New York city."
End of chapter 1